Announcement Of VAR Results In Stadium Will Trial In Carabao Cup Semifinals

VAR results will be announced in the stadium in the semifinal match of the Carabao Cup 2024/2025 (doc. EFL).

JAKARTA - The referee will announce the results of a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) review through the microphone inside the stadium for the first time in English football.

This means that the entire stadium will clearly know the referee's decision and VAR. However, stadium residents will not hear the discussion between VAR and the referee on the screen, only the final result of the review from the referee.

The system will be tested during the first leg of the Carabao Cup 2024/2025 semifinals which will start on January 7, 2025.

However, the trial was carried out limited to certain incidents. For example, when the referee visited the fieldside VAR monitor to see subjective violations, factual interventions for offside, and accidental handball by goal scorers.

Meanwhile, the referee's decision during matches without VAR will not be announced inside the stadium.

Likewise, VAR checks for red cards or penalties. Both incidents remain known by the referee and VAR.

"This new pilot is part of PGMOL's (Professional Game Match Officials Limited/British Professional Referee Agency) commitment to transparency and embraces technological advances for the benefit of match officers and fans," the English Football League (British Professional Club Agency) said in a statement on Monday, December 30, 2024.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) aka the World Football Regulatory Agency first started trials at the FIFA tournament in December 2022.

This made the system available to all competitions and tournaments a year later.

The announcement of VAR results within the stadium has been made at the 2022 Club World Cup in Morocco, the 2023 U-20 World Cup, and the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia-New Zealand.

Now, the system will be expected and introduced to the Premier League earlier this season, but there is opposition across major European leagues.

However, referees in the UK have prepared a possible implementation of the VAR announcement inside the stadium at the training camp after going through a series of matches related to the professional club stadium.

Other leagues have adopted it and have become a hallmark, such as Australia's A-League which has implemented since the playoffs at the end of last season and was introduced for the 2024/2025 season.

Meanwhile, this season's Carabao Cup semifinals will bring together Arsenal vs Newcastle United and Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur.